SHIFT

07.13.1311:47 AM ET

Women Drive College Hookup Culture

Most say they're too busy for relationships.

"We don't really like each other in person, sober. We literally can't sit down and have coffee." So says one college student about her regular hookup, a fellow student with whom she has sex with no strings attached. Although the "hookup culture" was originally thought to be driven by men, more and more evidence is piling up that women are just as complicit, citing a lack of time for or interest in a serious relationship. Hooking up entails "low risk and low investment costs," the student said, likening her decision to a cost-benefit analysis. The development makes sense: for young people of both genders, career and ambition are often given higher priority than finding a soulmate. Career and personal fulfillment, it would seem, come first. For these students, romance will just have to wait.